Combining an array of approaches for systemic behavior change in groundwater governance in India

Over-extraction of groundwater is a prominent challenge in India, which withdraws more of this key resource each year than the United States and China combined. At least one-third of India's districts have problems with groundwater overexploitation or contamination. This has profound implications for food security, livelihoods, and economic development. As groundwater is an "invisible" and mobile common pool resource, sustainable governance is complex and multifaceted, requiring coordination among various stakeholders at different scales. Results of attempts around the world indicate that neither communities, nor markets, nor governments alone have been effective in ensuring sustainable groundwater management.

In this context, what can be done to strengthen groundwater governance on a large scale? We argue that this requires systemic changes. Systems are understood as patterns of behavior and interactions of actors in an ecological, social, political, economic, technical, and cultural context maintaining or creating changes (inspired by McGinnis and Ostrom 2014 and Woltering et al., 2019). Changing the system requires understanding the behaviors of actors in the system network, as well as the institutions that shape the direction in which the system moves. This understanding can then be applied to select the right approaches to influence behavior and the overall system.